• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: chemistry and biochemistry
• Instructor: Vanessa Woods
• Instructor Email: vewoods@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Thursday 2:00-2:50 in GIRV 2124 *This seminar will meet every Thursday of the quarter in ILP 4105 at UCSB. Please note that 6 hours of this seminar will be off campus at the K-12 schools during two to three weeks of the quarter and for those weeks there will not be a regular Thursday meeting. Please see the syllabus for details. 
• Enroll Code: 65987

Course Description:  With the SciTrek team including Dr. Woods you will get to work the SciTrek science outreach program. Through this course you will refine your abilities to think critically and to develop your mentoring skills. The outreach brings university students into local classrooms (this class will focus largely on Junior High and High School classes) to help facilitate authentic science experiences for the student across a diverse set of topics such as math, biology, chemistry, and physics. The outreach does not require that you be a STEM major.

Bio:  Vanessa Woods is an Associate Teaching Professor in Psychological and Brain Sciences at UCSB. Vanessa earned a Ph.D. in Neuroscience, and has taught and conducted research on inclusive pedagogies in higher education at diverse institutions since 2009. Her research focus is on effective teaching practices and student success, with projects looking at, creating equity in college classrooms, transfer student success, and K-12 science interest & identity to understand the STEM college/career pipeline.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Chemistry and Biochemistry
• Instructor: Mattanjah de Vries
• Instructor Email: devries@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 12:00-12:50 in PSBN 4605
• Enroll Code: 61119

Course Description:  Should there be stickers on biology books, warning that evolution is only a theory? Should we worry about climate change or is that a hoax? Is alternate medicine just quackery or is it systematically suppressed by the mainstream medical establishment? Is intelligent design covered up by biologists? Is vaccination safe? Science appears to be doubted and beleaguered from many sides. What do the courts have to say? Explore the history and philosophy of science. Be skeptical and decide whether science can be trusted.

Bio:  Professor Mattanjah de Vries teaches Environmental Chemistry, Analytical Chemistry, and special topics graduate courses. His research interests include studying the molecular origin of life with novel laser-based techniques, as well as applications in analysis of meteorites, art, and archaeology.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Psychological & Brain Sciences
• Instructor: Nicole Albada
• Instructor Email: nicole.albada@psych.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 1:00-1:50 in HSSB 1207
• Enroll Code: 61077

Course Description:  There are more older adults alive today than at any other point in human history. This demographic shift has implications for all aspects of society: the economy, healthcare, education, climate change, and individual wellbeing. This seminar will showcase the research occurring across the UCSB campus that is addressing the problems and promises of growing older and living longer lives. Faculty from multiple disciplines, such as psychology, biology, anthropology, cultural studies, and communication, will provide an overview of their field, and discuss the most pressing questions that are being addressed to help ensure that you age successfully.

Bio:  Nicole Alea Albada received her BS in Psychology, with honors, from the University of Florida. She continued at the University of Florida, earning her PhD in Developmental Psychology, with an emphasis on adult development and aging. She also received graduate certificates in Gerontology and Social Science methodology. Her PhD was funded by a National Research Service Award (NRSA) Predoctoral Fellowship from the National Institute on Aging. Nicole began her position as an Assistant Teaching Professor at UCSB in 2018. She is the director of the Thinking About Life Experiences (TALE) Lab, which explores why and how people remember events from their life, and the links between remembering autobiographical events and psychosocial well-being in various age groups and across cultures. She primarily teaches research methods, statistics, and adult development and aging to undergraduate students in the PBS program. She is also the Director for Education and Outreach for the Center for Aging and Longevity Studies. She is the Faculty Advisor for the UCSB Chapter of Psi Chi, the International Honors Society in Psychology, and for the UCSB chapter of the Brain Exercise Initiative for older adult community members.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Art
• Instructor: Kip Fulbeck
• Instructor Email: seaweed@arts.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesdays 9:00-10:50 in ARTS 1237 *this seminar will meet the first 5 weeks of the quarter
• Enroll Code: 66613

Course Description:  The exploration of identity continues to be a focus of contemporary artists. Examining how we create and recreate our internal and external selves allows us to better understand our interactions in personal, social and political arenas. In this interactive workshop, students will view work by various spoken word artists, performers, and filmmakers, as well as engage in lively discussions pertinent to their phase in life.

Bio:  Kip Fulbeck is a Distinguished Professor of Art, with affiliate appointments in Asian American Studies and Film & Media Studies. He has exhibited worldwide and has been featured on CNN, MTV, The New York Times, The TODAY Show, Voice of America, and various NPR programs. He is the author of numerous books and the recipient of UCSB's Faculty Diversity Award and Distinguished Teaching Award.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Physics
• Instructor: David Stuart
• Instructor Email: DavidStuart@UCSB.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Friday 12:00-12:50 in HSSB 1237
• Enroll Code: 66621

Course Description:  This seminar will discuss the physics experiments that revealed the fundamental building blocks of the universe over the course of the last century. We'll look at the questions that drove the experiments, the techniques that they used, and the impact that they had. We'll also discuss ways that undergraduate science majors can make their own contributions to modern experiments through undergraduate research projects.

Bio:  David Stuart is a professor of physics who does particle physics experiments with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN. These experiments involve colliding protons at high energies to create new particles, and their anti-matter partners, to study the fundamental constituents and interactions of the universe.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Asian American Studies
• Instructor: John Park
• Instructor Email: jswpark@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 4:00-4:50 in GIRV 1108
• Enroll Code: 61127

Course Description:  This seminar is designed specifically for incoming freshmen to UC Santa Barbara in the College of Letters and Science. The purpose of this class is to provide new students with an overview of academic life in general, as well as an introduction to this University in particular. We begin with a brief overview of academic institutions and academic life, and then we explore how professors at UCSB conduct their work, paying special attention to the research of leading professors in the social sciences. Finally, we conclude with detailed strategies for how students can take full advantage of the many opportunities available here in the College.

Bio:  I've been a professor of Asian American Studies at UCSB since 2002.  I did my graduate work in law, public policy, comparative ethnic studies, legal theory, and legal and political philosophy, and I've published in all of these fields.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Writing
• Instructor: Robert Samuels
• Instructor Email: rsamuels@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Thursday 11:00-11:50 in HSSB 1236
• Enroll Code: 66902

Course Description:  This seminar will address current college mental health issues and examine how writing can help students to understand their own minds and emotions. Through the use of guided free writing, meditation, and open class discussions, we will explore why so many people suffer from depression and anxiety, and how writing can alleviate some of these problems.

Bio:  Robert Samuels teaching in the Writing Program at UCSB and is the author of twenty-five books. He is also a trained psychoanalyst.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Computer Science
• Instructor: Maryam Majedi
• Instructor Email: majedi@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 4:00-4:50 in HSSB 1228
• Enroll Code: 66597

Course Description:  As students begin their journey in STEM fields, it's essential to recognize that technical skills alone are not enough. This course introduces first-year students to the ethical complexities embedded in scientific and technological endeavors. Students will explore how some designs and innovations can inadvertently impact society, perpetuate biases, and lead to unintended consequences if ethical considerations are overlooked.

Through interactive discussions, case studies, and real-world examples, students will learn to identify and address ethical challenges such as privacy violations, discrimination, and inequality in technical design. This course encourages students to think critically about their roles as future engineers, scientists, and technologists, highlighting the importance of responsible decision-making that promotes inclusivity and fairness.

Bio:  Dr. Maryam Majedi joined the Department of Computer Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara, as an Assistant Teaching Professor in 2023. She completed a teaching stream postdoc at the University of Toronto, where she worked with the Embedded Ethics Education Initiative (E3I) team and introduced the first ethics modules for CS courses in Canada. Dr. Majedi earned her Ph.D. in data privacy at the University of Calgary. Her Ph.D. work presents a novel privacy policy modeling technique. Prior to her Ph.D., she earned a Master of Science degree in High-Performance Scientific Computing from the University of New Brunswick. Dr. Majedi also completed a fellowship in Medical Innovation at Western University.

Dr. Majedi's research primarily revolves around Embedded Ethics and Data Privacy. She explores the intersection of computer science and ethical considerations, aiming to develop modules that facilitate the integration of ethics and data privacy principles into computer science education.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Philosophy
• Instructor: Dan Korman
• Instructor Email: dkorman@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Wednesday 10:00-10:50 in HSSB 3201
• Enroll Code: 66753

Course Description:  Each week, we’ll examine an argument for a radical or controversial conclusion, including: that God does not exist, that you have no free will, that you don’t know anything, that it’s irrational to fear death, that abortion is immoral, that eating meat is immoral, and that taxation is immoral.

Bio:  Philosophy Professor

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology
• Instructor: Miriam Thompson
• Instructor Email: miriameadyt@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 4:00-4:50 in HSSB 1227
• Enroll Code: 66605

Course Description:  Why do we develop strong belief systems? Why do we feel defensive when our beliefs are questioned or challenged? Why is it hard to hear perspectives that differ from our own? These questions will serve as the foundation for this course whereby students will engage in critical thinking, viewpoint diversity, and respectful dialogue. Students will be asked to reflect on their own perspective or beliefs and will consider what influenced their stance on these matters. Each week, students will read, watch, or listen to something that challenges their beliefs on a particular issue or introduces them to a different perspective.

Bio:  Dr. Miriam Eady Thompson is an Associate Teaching Professor in the Department of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology. She is also a licensed psychologist, Nationally Certified School Psychologist, and the Director of Mind and Behavior Assessment Clinic (MBAC) at UCSB. As a teaching professor and assessment clinic director, Dr. Thompson trains graduate students in the ethical administration of standardized psychological assessments. She teaches assessment courses on personality, neuropsychological, psychoeducational, and cognitive functioning. Dr. Thompson’s greatest source of fulfillment comes from teaching, training, and interacting with students.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: French and Italian Department
• Instructor: Tiziana de Simone
• Instructor Email: desimone@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 9:00-9:50 in HSSB 1237
• Enroll Code: 66951

Course Description:  I would like to explore with students Italian culture and traditions in the different regions. Why thousands tourists visit the Italian peninsula every year, eager not only to sightseeing different places but also to experience  the local culture and traditions.

Bio:  Tiziana de Simone is a Continuing Lecturer in Italian Studies and has joined the French and Italian Department at UCSB in 2000. She has taught traditional and hybrid lower-division Italian courses, including Italian conversation courses, for over 22 years at UCSB. Before that, she worked as a Lecturer in the Chemistry Department and as a researcher in the Materials Department at UCSB. Tiziana graduated from the University of Naples “Federico II” in Chemistry, completing a Master's thesis on synthesizing and characterizing new adhesives in the Materials Department at UCSB. Her research led to many publications in scientific journals.

She has always been enthusiastic about teaching complex concepts effectively and simply. Her first job as an educator was through the Upward Bound program at UCSB, where she taught underprivileged high school students and encouraged them to continue with their college education. Tiziana is passionate about enriching her methodology and teaching skills through new technologies and has participated in many workshops and symposia. She was recently chosen for the Center for Innovative Teaching, Research, and Learning Symposia (2021-23), where she participated in weekly seminars focusing on teaching equity and engaging technologies. She combined her background in science with her passion for teaching the Italian language with a presentation focused on how our brain learns and applies a new language.

She is passionate about books, music, dogs, art, hiking, and the ocean and loves bringing Southern Italian culture and traditions into her classes. As an authentic Southern Italian, she also enjoys cooking for and entertaining friends with the Italian dishes she grew up with.

She has volunteered at the Mission in Santa Barbara and in many local elementary and high schools, where she organized monthly meetings with local speakers to help students envision their career paths.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Political Science
• Instructor: Clayton Nall
• Instructor Email: nall@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 2:00-2:50 in GIRV 2124
• Enroll Code: 66886

Course Description:  What does social science research have to say about undergraduate life?  In this seminar, we'll be reading classic, new, and mythbusting scholarship about college.  Where did modern US research universities like UCSB come from?  What do students want from college?  What do universities claim to deliver students, and do they deliver it?  What are the major obstacles to student success?  Why do campus reforms designed to improve access to opportunity so often fail?

Bio:  Professor Nall is an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science.  His research has sought to explain how policies that change geographic space change American politics, and his recent research has examined how people understand and respond to efforts to build needed housing in their communities.  His first book, The Road to Inequality: How the Federal Highway Program Polarized America and Undermined Cities (Cambridge University Press, 2018) uses a range of new data sources constructed from public archives and databases to examine how the largest public works project in U.S. history created Republican suburbs, increased the urban-suburban political divide, and worsened spatial inequality in the nation's metro areas. 

Professor Nall has been an active supporter of undergraduate social science research, training many students on survey and public policy research.  He has hired dozens of undergrads as research assistants and has advised many senior honors theses.  Over the past two years, his passion project has been a collaboration with third- and fourth-year poli sci majors examining the job placement performance of Ph.D. programs in political science.

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Communication
• Instructor: Walid Afifi
• Instructor Email: w-afifi@ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 1:00-1:50 in GIRV 2124
• Enroll Code: 67389

Course Description:  This seminar will host guest speakers who will share their expertise in basic financial literacy topics. Covered topics will include financial aid, scholarships, investing, budgeting, saving, credit, taxes, insurance and post-grad adulting. The class is meant to be introductory. Students are encouraged to ask even the most basic questions without fear of judgment as this is a safe, welcoming space to learn.

Bio:  Walid Afifi is a Professor in the Dept of Communication. He is committed to research, teaching, and service that involves and empowers all communities, and has been recognized for that work by UCSB's Resource Center for Sexual and Gender Diversity through the "Esteemed Ally Award" and through the Margaret Getman Service to Students Award. This class emerged from a community engagement class, in which student identified a need for more financial literacy resources. 

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery
• Department: Chemical Engineering
• Instructor: Todd Squires
• Instructor Email: tsquires@ucsb.edu

Four sections are available. Students may choose from one of the following sections:

• Day - Time - Room: Friday 9:00-10:50 in Asbury Pathfinder Lab, in building 570.  *This seminar will meet for the FIRST 5 weeks only
• Enroll Code: 66837

OR

• Day - Time - Room: Friday 1:00-2:50 in Asbury Pathfinder Lab, in building 570. *This seminar will meet for the FIRST 5 weeks only
•  Enroll Code: 66845

 OR

• Day - Time - Room: Friday 9:00-10:50 in Asbury Pathfinder Lab, in building 570. *This seminar will meet for the LAST 5 weeks only
• Enroll Code: 66852

OR

• Day - Time - Room: Friday 1:00-2:50 in Asbury Pathfinder Lab, in building 570. *This seminar will meet for the LAST 5 weeks only
• Enroll Code: 66860

Course Description:  Each of you has used shampoo and toothpaste almost every day of your life (I hope), yet have you ever stopped to think about how incredible these products are?  Why does shampoo flow as slow as honey, but spread into your hair so much more easily (and less painfully)?  How can hand sanitizer pump out of the bottle, but sit in a little pile on your hand until you spread it?  Come learn how these products work by making your own in lab!  We'll  do shampoo, hand sanitizer, moisturizing lotion, lip balm, conditioner, and others. 

Bio:  Todd Squires has been a Professor of UCSB Chemical Engineering since 2005,  and is faculty advisor for UCSB's student chapter of the Society of Cosmetic Chemists.    He earned undergraduate degrees in Physics and Russian Language and Literature at UCLA in 1995, and his PhD in Physics from Harvard in 2002.  His research involves "complex fluids", with applications in consumer products, the function and dysfunction of lung surfactants, and water treatment membranes.  He has two kids in college and one in elementary school, which has helped him understand both how exciting -- and how stressful -- the transition to college can be

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery+
• Department: Spanish and Portuguese
• Instructor: Antonio Cortijo & Silvia Bermúdez
• Instructor Email: cortijo@ucsb.edu, bermudez@spanport.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Tuesday 2:00-3:50 IN PHELP 1448 
• Enroll Code: 26799

Course Description:  This seminar offers an overview of the way our conceptualization of Love and Desire has shaped Western thought from its inception to the present. Love lies at the intersection of sexual passion, religious mysticism, and social utopia. Conceptualized as a human need for creating a relationship with the other we will begin by examining how the Greeks believed "love" encompassed the notions of eros, fili­a, agape and Charistia/Love/Charity. From the most natural and simple sexual desire (eros), love moved to embrace the need to establish a connection with others through friendship (fili­a) or with the societal group at large (agape). A human mystical longing to transcend the sphere of the merely human was also recognized through the concept of Charistia/Love/Charity. To explore  how Love and Desire have been conceptualized and explored throughout the centuries in the Iberian Peninsula and Latin America, we will pay attention to literature and music.

Bio:  Antonio Cortijo is a Professor at the Dept. of Spanish and Portuguese. He analyzes in his research the ideological structures and tensions that have forged the Modern Period across the Atlantic and across the languages and cultures of the Iberian Peninsula. He deals with issues such as nation building, power and ideology, religion and economy in the late medieval through 18th  centuries, as well as with the larger topic of the relevance of Humanism in the creation of the modern nations.

Silvia Bermúdez is Professor of Iberian Studies in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese. Her current scholarship centers on Iberian feminisms, the social function of poetry, and antiracist activism in 21st Century Spain. She teaches courses on modern and contemporary Spanish literary and cultural history, popular music studies, feminist studies, and poetic discourses.  

• Seminar Type: First Year Discovery+
• Department: Writing Program & English
• Instructor: Baron W Haber and Ken Hiltner
• Instructor Email: baronhaber@ucsb.edu, hiltner@english.ucsb.edu
• Day - Time - Room: Monday 2:00-3:50 in NH 1111
• Enroll Code: 67041

Course Description:  This discovery seminar explores the youth climate movement, with hopes that you will feel inspired to join it. We will read texts, watch movies, and listen to podcasts about (and by) activists from the rising generation to study their fight to transform the systems that drive climate change. To make these global issues local, the seminar will look at the history of climate activism at UCSB. We will also examine diversity and inclusion within the climate movement, considering topics like environmental justice and environmental racism. Students will leave this seminar with an action plan to become a climate activist.

Bio:  Baron Haber is a Lecturer for the UCSB Writing Program, specializing in teaching about sustainability. He received his PhD in English from UCSB, and also holds his MFA in Creative Writing (Fiction) from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. His research about environmental justice within Global Anglophone literature has appeared in the journals darkmatter and ARIEL.

Ken Hiltner is a Professor of the environmental humanities at UCSB. He has published six books and a range of articles. In addition to the UCSB, Ken has taught at Harvard, where he received his Ph.D., and at Princeton University, where he served for a year as a visiting professor. On a personal note, prior to becoming a professor, for two decades Ken made his living as a furniture maker.